Blackberry Tour Smartphone

62" x 37" x 8"

I was commissioned to create a giant Blackberry(R) Tour(TM) 9360 smartphone out of LEGO bricks. But there was a catch. It couldn't be just a static replica, it needed to have a video screen that really worked.

Fun.

So after some trial and error, I embedded a flat screen TV into my brick sculpture to get the effect of having working video in this over-sized brick smartphone. Check out the video above that shows the TV actually working inside the giant brick
sculpture.

This new smartphone could totally crush my LEGO iPhone that was recently the subject of an answer on Jeopardy! However, you never know what Alex Trebek is going to like.

---

---

Strong National Museum of Play Event

My visit to the Strong National Museum of Play was a great experience. My museum exhibit was on display and I was there to give a talk on my art and my love of play, titled 'Making Play an Art Form.' It was a record setting attendance weekend for the museum. My talk went well and I really enjoyed taking questions from the audience.

It was great fun meeting so many people and so many budding artists. I signed a lot of autographs on all sorts of things, including LEGO bricks, several shirts and even two cell phones.

One young artist even brought a minifig version of my sculpture 'Blue' and myself. I think I might commission him to make minifig versions of all my sculptures.

---

---

Lincoln Portrait

28" x 22"

President's Day is today. Since Lincoln governed during the Civil War, it seemed only appropriate that I create a portrait in hues of both blue and gray. Also, I have a lot of extra blue and gray bricks.

---

---

Jeopardy Category

It was somewhat surreal seeing my artwork being the subject of a category on the game show "Jeopardy!" The three contestants, Jason, Adrianne and Andrew, had to show their knowledge of my LEGO artistry. Fortunately, the questions and answers were not that difficult. In fact, I got almost all of them right.

Here's the clip from the episode:

---

---

Pop-Up Book

43" x 52" x 30"

Last month, Waldo H. Hunt, the "King of the Pop-Up Book," died at age 88. To commemorate his passing and the uniqueness that is the pop-up book, I am unveiling my own giant LEGO pop-up book.

This particular pop-up book is created entirely out of LEGO pieces, and is illustrating a poem I wrote a few years ago. The poem is printed along the 'pages' of the book. Here's the poem:


This is a poem
About a girl in a boat,
Who kept sailing around
The confines of a moat.

The moat went around
A very big palace
Inside lived a prince,
And his maid Alice.

The prince had no problems.
His life was pure pleasure.
But his love for that girl,
He could not measure.

And the girl loved him back.
Their love had been bound.
But she still sailed on her boat.
Around and around.

She didn't dare stop
For around the moat's edge
Were sharp jagged rocks
Where her boat could not wedge.

The prince watched her each day,
And watched her each night.
They'd talk all the time.
But it just wasn't right.

He begged her to jump.
And leave the boat far below.
But she kept sailing around,
Not ready to go.

"I'll catch you," he promised.
There will be no harm."
And she wanted to go
And live in his arms.

But the boat seemed so safe.
And the jump seemed so big.
She could not just leave,
And abandon her rig.

"Finally," the prince said,
As he jumped on her boat.
"If you won't come to me,
Then I'll sail on the moat!"

And they sailed on her boat,
Just watching the palace.
But they could not go back,
'Cuz it was now owned by Alice.

The moral of the story,
If you must know:
If you stay where you are,
Then you may never go.

So if one would jump,
And prepare for the hassle,
One day they will find,
They can live in the castle.

---

---